Journal box cover seal



Feb. 6, 1951 c. D. FOSS 2,540,662

JOURNAL BOX COVER SEAL Filed Nov. 18, 1946 FIG. I.

INVENTOR CURTIS D. FOSS ATTORNEYS :r rn esionlr:

Patented Feb. 6, 1951 UNITED STAT ES PATENT OFFI CE.

JOURNAL .BOX COVER SEA-L CurtisD. Foss, Bell, Calif.

Application November 18, 11346, Serial N0.710,635

Claims.

This invention relates generally to railway car journal boxes and particularly to means for sealing theopenings of such boxes.

Railway car journal boxes are ordinarily provided with a cover or lid which closes the open- .i-n-g provided forthe purpose of gaining accessto the interior of the box. While there are .many types of covers, the major portion are ,hingedly mounted on the box and have a spring means for yieldably holding them closed. It has been found -with the hingedly mounted cover that the vertical vibrations .of the car in motion are so severe that in conjunction with the lateral motion of the car, particularly the abrupt movement of the car from side to side as .it reaches the limits of play provided between the car and the axle, forces are set up which tend to open the journal box lids and it very often happens thatthe combi-nat-ion of vibrations acts in sucha manner that the doors are held .open even against the action .of thespring. As a result, dust, dirt and air enter the box and interfere with proper lubrication of the bearings.

I am aware that attempts have been made to provide a dust seal between the door and the journal box in the region of the edge of the opening,,but so .iar as I know such attempts have jailed since the aforementioned forces set up by the vibration of the car in motion tend to open the door and permit entrance of foreign matter. Some rather complicated and expensive devices have been devised for projecting into the opening in the journal box, but these have not proved entirely satisfactory since they usually entail the use of a special door or an elaborate attachment means and are not practical for conversion of the ordinary standard types of covers.

7 It therefore is a primary object of this invention of the car.

It is also an object to provide a sealing means lwhich effects .a triple seal for the opening into the journal box, as will be explained more fully hereinafter.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a device of the type indicated which can be mo.unted on standard types of doors already in .nse and which does not require any special or complicated equipment. It is also an obiect to provide a device or means which is relatively simple in construction and can be readily manufactured and installed.

"These and other objects will be apparent from the drawing and the following description. 'Re- "ierr'ing'to' the drawing, which is for illustrative Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the end of a railway car journal showing an embodiment of the invention;

.Fig. 2 is an and elevation of the cover vfor the journal box, partly broken away;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the inside of the sealing means attached to .the inner side of the .cover;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the resilient sealing element;

.Fig. -5 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the seal; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective View of a modified form of seal shown installed on a .box having a door which pivots in its .own plane.

More particularly describing the invention, reference numeral 9 generally indicates the body of a railway car journal box which has an :opening [-0 providing access to the interior thereof. Mounted on the box is a standard form of cover ll for the opening. It may be pointed out that there are several difierent types of covers in use today on the railway [cars and that the particular form of cover shown is merely used by way I) illustration.-

This cover is .hingedly mounted on the box by means of a pintle 1.2 which extends through the apertured portions 14, .M at the upper end of the cover and through a central boss l6 formed on the box. The cover is pressed out at .Iil to form an interior recess 19 to provide room for the boss 16 and to accommodate a flat -or leaf spring member 20 which is removably mounted in 4a recess 2| on the inside of the cover, being held-in place by means of lugs 22. This spring bears against a face 24 on the boss and in the position shown tends to hold the cover closed. When the cover is opened the spring bearsagainst an upper face 25 on the .boss and thus serves to tend to hold the cover open.

In order to provide a seal for the opening in the box and to provide means for preventing the cover from being. opened by the forces set :up when the oasis in motion, a sealing member .28

is provided which is mounted on the inner side of the cover. This seal, in the form of the ,invention shown in Figs. 1-4, consists of .a body member which is made of suitable resilient .material, such .as a rubber composition which is not attacked by oil or the like. The body has a hat plate-like main portion 30 .from the inner side of which extends. a rectangular wall 31. This wal is substantially the same size .as the openingv in the journal box except that it is .made- :to .flt tightly therein, necessitating .its being forced into .the opening. This construction provides three projecting flange portions '32 on the main portion of the member which are designed to ar -puma s a n t D h-iredges of the opening wall 3 l.

In order to prevent any tendency of the cover being wedged open by a section of the sealing member in the region between the upper edge 34 and the inside of the cover, the aforementioned flanges 32 are only provided at the two sides and across the bottom of the seal.

The wall 3! of the seal is provided with an external flange 35 which is positioned a sufficient distance inwardly of the main portion of the seal so that it will extend into sealing engagement with the wall of the journal box inwardly of the restricted part of the opening thereinto. Preferaby the outer surface of the wall 3| between the flange portion 32 and the flange 35 is substantially at right angles to the plate portion 30 or main body of the seal.

The sealing member may be mounted on the inner surface of the cover in any suitable manner. One suchmeans for doing this has been illustrated and comprises the plate 38 which bears against the inner surface of the main portion of the sealing member and is preferably pro vided with a peripheral flange portion 39 giving support to the inwardly extending rectangular This plate is centrally apertured so that it can be secured to the cover by means of a stud bot 49 which, depending upon the construction of the cover, may be secured either directly to the cover as by welding or, as in the form shown, secured to the lower end of the leaf spring 2!). A nut M is mounted on the bolt to secure the parts together.

With the construction shown, as the cover is closed the inwardly extending wall 3| of the seal is forced into the opening in the journal box fitting tightly against the wall surface forming the restricted part of the opening thereof in t e region 45. At the same time the flange port ons 32 seat against the outer edges 33 of the opening. Also, the perip eral flange 35 on the wall 31 is forced in past the restricted part of the onening and effects a seal inwardl thereof. It can thus be seen that with the construction shown a trip'e seal is accomplis ed, namel a seal is effected in the region of the outer edge of the o ening, in the region of the restricted part of the onening, and in the region inwardly of the restricted part of the opening. In this connection it may be pointed out that the inner flange or seal 38 may operate as an oil seal and permit the use of to the cover and prevents these vibrations from being communicated to the cover.

In this connection the cover is prevented from being vibrated vertically in such a manner as wou d tend to open it in conjunction with the lateral forc s of vibration or shock set up in the car Ordinary gasket-type seals cannot accomplish this. vThe lateral shock forces are prevented from reaching the cover by means of the peri heral portions 32 of the seal interposed between the outer edges of the Journal box and the cover.

It is contemplated that it may be necessary to f modify the seal member 28 in order to adapt it to the various types of covers which have different configurations on their inner surface or side. In this connection it may be necessary. as

I for example if the cover plate has a central proj'ection on its inner side, to provide arecessf. or,

out out portion in the seal and tdpiovide'a retaining plate for the seal which is shaped in such a manner as to either extend over such projection or is cut out to accommodate it. The different types of construction might necessitate the utilization of one or more bolt means disposed in some part of the cover and plate other than through the center thereof, as shown.

It is also contemplated that the seal member may be used on journal boxes having a cover which is slidably mounted or one which pivots in its own plane, such as that shown in Fig. 6. Referrin to that figure, reference numeral 40 generally indicates the journal box which is provided with a pivotally mounted cover 4|. The box is shown provided with a seal 42 which differs from the member 23 previously described in that it has peripheral flange portions entirely around the outer edge of the box opening and has an opening 63 to give access to the interior of the journal box without the necessity of removing the seal. This type of seal is merely forced into place in the box and then left there, in the position in which it is shown in Fig. 6.

Although the invention has been shown and described with reference to particular forms thereof and as applied to a particular type of journal box cover, it is contemplated that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. A means for use in providing a seal and absorbing vibrations between a railway car journal box having an opening and a cover for the opening, comprising member of rubber-like material having a flat, uninterrupted plate-like body portion and a relatively thick continuous wall extending from one side thereof, said wall being spaced inwardly of at least three edges of said body portion and extending substantially at right angles to the plane of the body portion, said wall being shaped to substantially correspond in outline to the shape of the opening in said journal box and being so proportioned thereto as to yieldably engage the wall of the box defining the opening within the opening.

2. A means for use in providing a seal and absorbing vibrations between a railway oar journal box having an opening and a cover for the opencomprisin a resilient member having a fiat substantiallw rectangular plate-like body portion and a relatively thick continuous wall extending from one side thereof. said wall being spaced inwardly of at least three edges of said body portion and extending substantially at right angles to the plane of the body portion and parallel to the edges of the body portion, and a peripheral flange on said wall spaced from said body portion.

3. A device as d fined in claim 2. in which the body portion is apertured inwardly of said wall.

4. A means for use in providing a seal and absorbing vibrations between a railway car journal box having an opening and a cover for the opening, comprising a resilient member having a fiat, substantially rectangular, plate-like body portion and a relatively thick continuous wall extending from one side thereof,.said wallbeing spaced inwardly of at least three edges of said body portion and extending substantially at right angles to the plane of the body portion and parallel to the edges of the body portion, and a peripheral flange on said wall spaced from said portion, and means for attachingsaidlre- H member to a journal box 'coverffnclum 5 ing a fiat, stiff retaining plate adapted to lie against the body portion of said resilient mem ber within said wall.

5. A device as defined in claim 4, in which the retaining plate is provided with an angularly extending peripheral flange for supporting the inner surface of said wall.

' CURTIS D. FOSS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Irvin Apr. 30, 1895 McAuliffe Mar. 25, 1902 Swanson Nov. 7, 1933 Stalter Dec. 9, 1941 Knight Dec. 9, 1941 Aber Mar. 9, 1948 

